Princeton University Athletics
Monday TigerBlog - A Big Team Win
October 20, 2025 | Tiger Blog
The Princeton football team had itself quite a day at Brown this past Saturday with a 40-21 win.
It's the kind of game you love, where you 1) get a big league win on the road and 2) you have no idea who the player of the game was, because there were so many choices.
This was a team win, to be sure. And a balanced one at that.
Consider that the Tigers rushed for 195 yards as a team and threw for 217 yards as a team. When was the last time Princeton had those numbers? And when was the last time Princeton had those numbers in an Ivy League game?
For that matter, can you name the quarterbacks on those two occasions?
In the meantime, TigerBlog offers a little background on the game from Saturday. Brown came in at 3-1 with in-state wins over nationally ranked Rhode Island and also Bryant, though 0-1 in the Ivy League after an opening loss to Harvard.
Princeton came in 2-2 but 1-0 in the Ivy League, after it defeated Columbia 17-10 two weeks ago. It was clearly a big game for both teams, especially in this Year 1 of having Ivy League participation in the FCS playoffs.
Okay, and now back to TB's piece of trivia.
The last time Princeton had at least 195 rushing yards and 217 passing yards in a game? That was in 2021 against Stetson, when Cole Smith was the quarterback.
The last time Princeton did so in an Ivy game? That was in 2019 at Brown, when Kevin Davidson was the quarterback.
Meanwhile, back in 2025, who was the player of the game Saturday?
Was it running back Ethan Clark, who carried 17 times for 120 yards and a touchdown? That's better than seven yards a carry.
Was it quarterback Kai Colon, who threw for 212 yards and a touchdown, completing 19 of 29 passes? Forget player of the game. Who was the Kai of the game? Was it Kai Colon or Kai Honda, who had 100 yards of offense, with 67 and a TD on 10 carries and then three catches for 33 more yards?
Defensively, there were nine Princeton players with between five and seven tackles, while three had interceptions. There were Tigers everywhere.
And then there is freshman wide receiver Josh Robinson, who made a big case for his third straight Ivy Rookie of the Week award. Robinson had eight catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, which means that he has now gone from one catch to one catch to four catches to six catches to eight catches in his first five college games.
Beyond that, he has 224 of his 250 receiving yards in the last three weeks. The touchdown Saturday was the first of his career. It won't be the last.
He also now has 20 receptions on the season. Is that already the Princeton freshman record? TB will have to look that one up. Where is the Elias Sports Bureau when you need it?
And how do they have access to so many obscure stats and records in no time?
TigerBlog did reach out to the Sachson Sports Bureau, an unofficial statistical outlet. The "Sachson" in question is Craig Sachson, TB's longtime friend and former colleague who spent the better part of two decades with the football program. TB will let you know what he learns.
Anyway, Robinson is quickly entering the "must-watch" realm, which is even better than being the player of the game. When he's on the field, you are immediately drawn to him to see what he's going to do next. And this is only Week 5 of his career.
The win puts Princeton at 2-0 in the league and the season's midpoint, with five Ivy games in the next five weeks ahead. The first of those comes up Saturday at home, when 2-0 Harvard will be at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.
The Tigers are Crimson are two of the three teams in the league who are at 2-0, along with Penn, who defeated Columbia 35-21 Saturday to stay unbeaten. Yale and Dartmouth are both 1-1.
Princeton-Harvard games are always fun. It's especially the case when they are both unbeaten in the league as October starts to wind down, as will be the case Saturday.
Kickoff at noon. Circle it now.